


After That Night

by Ravensdawn



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: AU, Angst, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Jane and Cho after that one night, M/M, Season/Series 02, Sequel to One Night, Went off the rails a bit, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-09-03 09:36:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8707213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravensdawn/pseuds/Ravensdawn
Summary: Sequel to One Night. Set in Season 2. Jane and Cho's relationship gets worse before it gets better.





	

It had been weeks since that night.  Jane and Cho got on with life.  It was strange for a while, but they mostly went back to being Agent and Consultant.  Cho would catch Jane watching him from his couch and vice versa.  They stood a little too close sometimes and said so much with glances and looks, but no one noticed, beyond a curious look from Lisbon from time to time.

Then they were investigating a case involving a baseball farm team.  Kids trying to be sports superstars, parents and agents seeing dollar signs.  In the clash, a good man was murdered.  Jane had just started in when he got whacked in the head by an errant baseball and was knocked unconscious.  Cho spent the day trying to get him to go to the hospital. 

But Jane is a sensual man.  He appreciates his senses and all the small moments of pleasure they bring. He never missed a chance to soak up the sun, or taste a new food, or appreciate the beauty in nature.  It made him an odd sort of fan of altered states.  He wasn’t one to go out of his way to get one – like with alcohol or drugs – but if one happened to him, he savored every minute of it.  He didn’t want to fix it, he wanted to experience it, even if the memories evoked were painful.  Besides, he had a case to solve.  All Cho could do is stay with him and hope he wasn’t worse off than he looked.  He solved the case, the bastard, even compromised.

Back in the bullpen, Cho sat down on Jane’s couch with him.  “Please don’t do that again.”

Jane honestly had no idea what he was talking about.  “Okay, I won’t.  Do what?” He took a bite of his ham and cheese.

Cho sighed.  “You have to take care of yourself.”

“I’m fine.”

“You weren’t the one standing over your unconscious body or the one who watched you empty bags of leaves like a crazy person.  I was worried.  Lisbon was worried.  You didn’t even care.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Cho.  I wasn’t thinking.” Jane said sounding earnest.  Then he ruined it by saying, “I had a concussion,” with an innocent smirk on his face.

“Fine.”  Cho rolled his eyes and walked away.  Jane watched him carefully.

“Don’t be like that,” Jane called after him.

“Don’t worry about it Jane.”

Jane worried anyway.

 

The next couple cases, Jane and Cho didn’t have much time working together.  Jane thought perhaps Cho was avoiding him but who knows.  There was a picture of Cho beside the word “stoic” in the dictionary.   Then, Cho’s childhood friend, the one he called a brother was dead and Cho had ignored his calls for help.  Jane pushed him to deal with it even though he knew he was on thin ice.  He crouched down by Cho’s desk to be the least threatening he could be.  He could tell Cho wanted to forget, pretend it didn’t happen, pretend David never called, pretend he didn’t let his friend down. He also knew Cho would want to know for sure what happened to David.   Cho was civil during the case, answering questions but not offering much info.  Still, he appreciated every bit of history Cho would share.  Jane did his best to be there for him and helped him get the man who killed David. 

 

Jane startled awake. Someone was pounding on his door. He snuck down the stairs and looked through the window.  He opened the door and a very drunk Agent Cho almost fell on his face. Jane’s heart broke. He knew Cho was holding back about how much David had meant to him.   Jane caught Kimball on his way down.

“I need you, Jane,” Cho garbled out. “You sai….” But that was all he could say.

“Cho,” Jane said gently.

“No, I need. It. You said I’d call you when I need it and I do.”

“That’s not what you need right now.  You need water, Advil and sleep,” Jane said reasonably.

But Cho tried to grab Jane and kiss him anyway, ended up kinda slobbering on Jane’s face.  Jane took pity on him, lined up their faces and kissed him without any heat or intent.  Cho was fragrant to say the least.  The kiss settled Cho down a bit, so Jane kissed him again.  “C’mon, sit down, I’ll get you some water.” Jane turned to go to the kitchen.

“No, don leave me, lemme come,” Cho stammered, latching himself around Jane from behind, head firmly against Jane’s back.  Jane chuckled and walked/scuttled them into the kitchen.  Drunk Cho was sad, but cute.  Jane reached for a glass and filled it with water.  He tried giving it to Cho, but he wouldn’t let up, he was plastered to Jane.  Jane set the cup down and tried twisting himself around in Cho’s grip to some success.  Cho was pretty far gone, his head was resting on Jane’s chest. He wouldn’t take the glass. He wasn’t going to let go of Jane, either. Jane held the glass to his lips.

“Please drink this, please Cho,” he said and tilted it a little.  Some went in Cho’s mouth, some down his shirt and consequently some down Jane’s shirt, too.  Jane didn’t care and tried again.  “For me, Cho, drink this for me,” he said and Cho made an effort to form his mouth around the rim of the cup and take a few sips. “That’s better.”  Once Cho understood the whole water issue, he drank most of it, Jane holding the glass for him, he never letting go of Jane. He wondered how in the hell he managed to get to his house and thanked whatever deity it was who saw fit to make sure he got there safely.

“Do you think you’re going to throw up?” Jane asked.

Cho’s unfocused eyes looked at Jane.  He innocently shook his head no and promptly started throwing up.  At least this caused Cho to unlatch from him.  Jane got him to lean over the sink, managing to get most of it in there.  Jane turned on the water and put a hand on Cho’s back.  Everything Cho had ever eaten it seemed came back out of him.  Jane handed him a kitchen towel.  Cho wiped his face and rinsed his mouth.  

When Cho lifted his head from the sink, the world rotated.  He wrapped himself back around Jane to gain his balance and that’s how he wrangled him into the spare bedroom.  When they got there, Jane toppled them onto the bed.   He pulled and tugged at Cho’s shirt. “C’mon Cho, help me” Cho lifted his arms over his head like an obedient child.  Once free, Jane got the shirt, sneakers and jeans off of Cho, getting him to sit up.  Jane got one of his own t-shirts out and Cho put his arms up for Jane to dress him.  Jane pulled it down over his arms and head, straightening the shirt.

That’s when Cho looked up and said, “Jane?”  For the first time, Cho sounded like himself.

Jane pulled down the covers of the bed and said, “Yes, Kimball, it’s me, you’re at my house.  You’re drunk.  It’s okay, go to sleep.”

“My head, Jane.”

“I know, Babe, it’s alright, just sleep.”

“David’s dead. It’s my fault.”

“Shhhh, Kimball, that’s not true,” Jane soothed.  “Go to sleep, things will seem better in the morning.” He leaned down and kissed Cho on the cheek. Cho hugged Jane then laid down.

Cho put his head on the pillow and Jane tucked him in.  Looked like he fell right to sleep, but he probably passed out.  Jane took off his own pajamas that had gotten dirty, went through Cho’s pockets, taking out his phone and wallet, putting all the clothes in a laundry basket.  He risked leaving Cho for a moment to put them in the wash and find new stuff for him to put on.  Then he got another glass of water, crept back into the guestroom and got in bed with Cho.  Not two minutes later, Cho reattached himself to Jane.  Jane smiled and went with it. 

 

“NO! NO!” he screamed and thrashed, rolling his head from side to side.  “DON’T!  Aaaaaaaaaah! NO!” Cho sat up in bed, royally confused, entirely disoriented.  He was dizzy and nauseous.  He tried to see in the dark.  He had no idea where he was and someone was screaming.  Sounded like Jane.   It was Jane.  Jane was screaming. Jane was next to him.  In bed.

 “Jane, wake up,” he said quietly, then a little louder.  “Jane, Honey, wake up, you’re having a nightmare.” He shook him a little.

It was Jane’s turn to be confused.  “Cho?  Cho, what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, wait, you were drunk,” it was coming back to Jane.

“What?”

 “Doesn’t matter. C’mere. Hold me.”

You didn’t have to ask him twice.   

“I’ve missed you, Cho”

“I’ve been right here.”

“No, you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t, it’s been busy”

“Did you call me Honey?”

“No. Wanna talk about the nightmare?”

“No, go to sleep.”

They clung to each other in the darkness and slept.

 

The next morning, Jane was carefully shaken awake. 

“Jane, we’ve got to go to work,” Cho said.

Jane sat up and stretched, “Ok, I’m up, I’m up.” Jane looked around to see that Cho had showered and dressed.  He had found his clothes, which he must have put in the dryer.  “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?” Cho looked as fresh as a daisy.

“You’re kidding, right? I’d never wake you until I had to. You need sleep.  But Lisbon is going to call you any minute to tell you there’s a case.”

As if on cue, Jane’s phone rang.  There was a case.

“Ok, I need to get ready,” Jane said sleepily.  “Do we need to swing by your place on the way?”

“No, but I’d like to get my car.”

“Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Not much, but I know what bar I went to.  They still have my keys.” Cho looked disappointed with himself.  “Thank you for last night. Hope I didn’t say or do anything I’ll regret.”

“You were adorable,” Jane laughed as a smile spread across his face.  

“Oh God.”

“You clung to me like an octopus,” Jane giggled.   He walked over and gave Cho an awkward hug. Cho, embarrassed, sort of patted him on the back. “Yeah, exactly not like that.” Jane teased. So Cho opened his arms and gave Jane a real hug.

“Thank you,” Cho said.

“I liked having you here,” Jane suddenly remembered his nightmare and hugged Cho even tighter. “Nightmares are better when you’re not alone.” 

Cho uncomfortably cleared his throat. “We gotta go.” Cho had liked being there for Jane, and down that path lead uncertainty.  

“Oh, yeah, right.  Give me two minutes”

 

In the car on the way, Cho kept looking at Jane.

“What.” Jane finally asked.

“When I came into the room with KS and they had you at gunpoint….”

“Yeah, I know, I stayed in the car, I did.  It wasn’t me, I swear.”

Cho watched him for any signs of lying.  “I guess.”

“Honest”

“I thought you’d done something stupid and gotten caught.”

“No, I promise, not this time,” Jane tried his best to sound true.

“Don’t do that again,” Cho said.

“I was just sitting there in the car like you said, so next time I shouldn’t listen to you?” Jane was being obnoxious on purpose.

“Fine”

“You were worried about me,” Jane said with a knowing smile.  “You do care about me.”

“Shut up” Cho said, but Jane just smiled a bigger smile.  Cho rolled his eyes and smiled despite himself.

 

Their differing responsibilities on the next couple cases kept them apart.  One case involved someone poisoning chefs.  Cho heard that Jane tried every bit of gourmet food he could get his hands on and set a fire in the kitchen.  The next case was at biotech research lab that Jane was all excited about because the victim of the murder was the one who called him.  He thought it was a neat twist.  And she called him, not the CBI, because she had heard _he_ was the best.  Jane proceeded to make an ass of himself, being rude to the man from the CDC, hypnotizing someone, and frightening an entire facility of people just to get the culprit. 

Cho followed Jane into the restroom at work.  Fuming didn’t even begin to describe how Cho was feeling.

“How dare you!” He was pacing.

Jane immediately went submissive. “Cho, I didn’t mean for you to...”

“To what?!  Think Agent Lisbon was dead?!  To think _you_ were dead?!  That wasn’t part of your little plan?!” He grimaced angrily while yelling at Jane.

“It wasn’t, I didn’t know Teresa would call you,” Jane said quietly, “I tried to get the phone from her before she hung up, I never meant for you to think that.”

Cho ran him up against the wall and kissed him hard on the mouth, “Shut up!” Kissed him again, harder.

“Cho, wait.” But Cho wasn’t waiting.

“I said Shut UP!  When will you get it through your thick skull that people care about you?!”

That actually shut Jane up. Miracle of miracles.

Cho kissed him some more so he wouldn’t have to hear his voice.  Jane had missed this so much he didn’t even realize it.

“I thought you were dead, Jane. Dead! Do you have any idea?  What were you thinking?” Cho was on a roll.

“I didn’t think about you at all Cho” that was designed to make Cho even angrier. “All I cared about was solving the case.  That’s what you think, isn’t it?!” Jane was starting to get a little angry, to be honest.

“Damn you, Jane” he attacked Jane’s neck with his mouth, started to pull off his tie, slammed his fist into the wall next to his head.  Jane flinched.

“I solved it, didn’t I?  Teresa already clocked me one for this.”

“Two cases ago you let a table of people think they’d been poisoned and now you made an entire facility of scientists think their worst fears had come true, that they would all be dead, about to have their bodies incinerated and possibly have set a dangerous virus loose on the world.  WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?”

“I’d do it again, too.”

“You’re provoking me.  Why.” Cho demanded.

“You know why,” Jane said in a voice that came from his chest.

Cho obliged.  He grabbed Jane’s arm and pulled him into a stall.  He pushed him face against the wall, got his pants down, unzipped his own and put on the condom he had. Jane tried to look over his shoulder to see what Cho was doing.

“I can’t believe you did that,” he said, holding Jane’s hips, entering Jane.  He entered Jane, immediately thrusting.  Jane was trying to be quiet and not groan.  “You lied to me, you lied to the team, you lied to Lisbon” every accusation punctuated with a thrust.

“I was trying…”

“No.  More. Lies,” Cho clamped his hand over Jane’s mouth.  Jane’s eyes closed. “Is this what you wanted, Jane? You wanted me to do this to you?  Well, you got it.”  That was all nearly spat into his ear.

This was what he was after, Cho losing it with him.  A physical limit holding him back so his mind could escape. Cho pounding into him.  Jane’s focus was forced to the immediacy of what was happening. The cold of the wall, trying to stay upright, exposed in a place he shouldn’t be, breathing through his nose, the chance of getting caught, Cho all around him.  Jane’s brain was checking out, silencing and he abandoned himself to the experience.

But Cho slowed and stopped.  “Did you do all _that_ so I would do _this_?”  When he got no response from Jane, “Holy shit.”  He abruptly let go of Jane and pulled out.  He turned Jane around to read his face.  He couldn’t believe what he saw written there.  He tucked himself in and zipped up.  “Even for you, Jane.  Tell me this isn’t true. Tell me this wasn’t in your calculations!”  Cho was irritated and upset before, a little mad, maybe a little worried but now he was angry.  Deep in his soul angry.

“I thought I made it clear.  You can have me whenever you want me.”

“This isn’t about me.  This is about you.  What you want, Jane.”

 “I want you to care about me.”

Cho just shook his head.  “How can you even say that?”  He turned to leave the stall. “How?” He was so angry his eyes were misting.  He slammed the stall door which bounced, giving him a last glimpse of Jane with his head down, pants still on the floor.

 

This time there was no question, Cho was avoiding him.  To be fair, Jane was avoiding Cho as well.  Both had gone to Lisbon to ask they not work together.  She said no of course.  She did send them in opposite directions, hoping that giving them time, they’d work out whatever it was.  Cho let Jane come with him to interview a victim’s family and he did something to her tea and Cho wouldn’t speak to him again.  The next case on the Reservation, Cho never even went with Jane.  Once, Jane burst into his interview, like he always did, but Cho didn’t say anything. 

But it was when Jane screwed a case by breaking into the suspect’s house and having tea that Cho began to worry. Jane made a tactical error.  Jane doesn’t make tactical errors.   Everyone was ticked with him, Cho included.  Jane had joined him on the stake out. Cho read his book giving short, abrupt answers to Jane’s questions.   But now Cho was concerned that the uncomfortableness between them, especially in the car that day drove Jane away.  Maybe threw him off his game.

Cho watched him carefully.  It didn’t make sense.  Jane did some crazy things, but leaving his prints at a suspect’s house?  He’s not an idiot. In the fallout, Lisbon was suspended and Cho put in charge.   Jane asked him to get coffee with him, and he should have known. Even though Lisbon first turned him down, Cho thought Jane might be using the excuse of the case to talk with him.  Instead, he tried to hypnotize their suspect in the middle of a coffee shop.  _What?_ All they garnered was a few trinkets and some river sand.  

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jane got himself and Lisbon kidnapped.  Cho decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

The next case, Cho got a chance to talk with Jane.  They drove to the Visualize compound to scope out the cult.  Jane was in heaven, a reason to go to a cult’s headquarters and play mind games with the members?  A mentalist’s Olympics.  He had to admit, the leader was a challenge, but he loved every minute of that conversation. 

“Come to my house after work, okay?” Cho asked on the way back from the compound after Jane regaled him with what he’d done.  Cho found the whole thing creepy.  He got that feeling deep in his gut that Jane was playing with forces not entirely understood.  He didn’t say anything, Jane was too happy. “As long as we solve the case.”

Jane looked up, “I’d like that.” He looked Cho up and down, wondering at the change of attitude.  Jane, of course, figured out the case – an old man who treated his sons miserably, marries a younger woman and one of his sons had an affair with her.  She gets pregnant and they never tell the old man who the real father is.  The truth comes out, as it always does and he kills his own son.  Only he killed the wrong son.  People.

 

Jane knocked on Cho’s door and they went inside.  Cho had dinner on the table and they sat to eat. 

“I’m worried about you, Jane,” Cho said, “are you okay?

“You know I’m always fine, Cho,” Jane said rather wearily.

“You left me on that stake out, why?”

“Cho don’t ask me that.”

“Okay, I’ll talk,” and Jane took a deep breath.  “You left because of what happened between us.”   Jane looked at his food. “I am sorry for the way I left you in the restroom.” Still nothing from Jane.

“More angry than I’ve been in years.  You manipulated me.  I know you do it all the time, but this was different.”  Jane was still quiet.  “You treated me like a mark. I didn’t like it”

“You didn’t do anything you didn’t want to do,” Jane finally said something.

“I know.  But I think you have been,” Cho said.  He paused.  Jane looked up. “You told me I could call you whenever, but I never said that to you.” Cho said, then added, “I am here for you for anything, Jane.”

“I thought you’d call me more often.”

Cho swallowed.  “I thought you knew you could come to me.”

“You had girlfriend, Cho.”  Jane looked up to make eye contact.

“She left.”  Cho looked away.

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not.”

“You’re right, I’m not.”  He stood up. “It’s what I do, Cho.  I tried to get you to come to me, I should have gone to you.  I’m sorry.”

“I’m easy, Jane.  A sure thing.  What were you worried about?” Cho stood, too.                                                                                                                       

“I’m not easy, Cho, not for anyone. I don’t make people’s lives easy.”

“Certainly not the bad guys,” Cho smiled and stood closer. “I don’t care about easy, easy is boring.”

“You have to know that getting you angry at me was just a lovely bit of icing on the cake.  I was multitasking.” He smiled that smug smile of his.

“What you didn’t realize is that you always have my attention,” he said, looking into his eyes, “always.” Cho held on to Jane’s hips, Jane put his arms around Cho.

“I’m sorry, I should have apologized sooner.  You were so angry, I thought you done with me….” Jane said with a deep breath. “For the record, you are _not_ easy,” he said, shaking his head.

Cho kissed him then, trying to communicate feelings he wasn’t entirely clear on for himself. What was that saying? A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma?  Well, Jane was sunshine wrapped in subterfuge inside aggravation.  If you could navigate the last two, you could have the first.  He deepened the kiss, Jane happily following along.

“Forgive me?” Cho whispered.

Jane chuckled, “I should be saying that.”

“Yeah, you should,” Cho smiled, laughing, too. 

“Forgive me?” Jane whispered.

“Yeah” Cho said back and kissed him again. Jane melted into it.  _I didn’t want this, I needed this_. That was a scary thought.

Cho took Jane’s hand and led him to his bedroom.  This time Cho went slowly, unbuttoning Jane’s vest, and shirt, kissing exposed skin in the darkness.  He listened to Jane’s breathing, could feel his heart beat.  Cho shimmied Jane’s vest and shirt to the floor, held his shoulders then ran his hands up to hold his neck and run his thumbs along Jane’s jawline, all the while keeping eye contact.  Jane started undoing Cho’s tie and shirt.

Jane whispered, “Do you wear these short sleeve shirts to drive me to distraction on purpose?” He had stopped with the buttons to run his fingers under the hem of one of Cho’s shirt sleeves.  The corner of Cho’s mouth turned up and he had a glint in his eye.

“You weren’t the only one trying to get someone’s attention,” he whispered back. 

Jane smiled gently. He finished unbuttoning while Cho took off his own pants.  Cho moved the covers out of the way so he could sit on the bed.  He spread his legs to invite Jane to stand between them.  Cho kissed Jane’s belly while Jane worked himself out of his pants. The two couldn’t stop grinning at each other.  Cho climbed under the covers, holding them up for Jane. For a long while they made out like teenagers, touching tongues and kissing each other’s smiles.

They moved slowly, taking time to touch and reconnect.  Cho broke the kiss to lick across Jane’s stubble and suck on his earlobe. That sent chills down Jane’s spine and he hissed in response so Cho did that some more.  Jane snuggled close, scootching under so Cho would have to be on top of him.  He got what he really wanted when he opened his legs and bent his knees up. He wiggled his hips to rub their groins together, beaming when Cho responded with a groan and eye contact.  As it was so often with Cho, he couldn’t help but smile when Jane was smiling.  He cradled Jane’s head and kissed him, heating things up. Jane sighed at the back of his throat. He was subconsciously rolling his hips.

Jane smoothed his hands down across Cho’s shoulders to the small of his back.  He kept going lower, sliding his fingers up and down over Cho’s back and down to as far as he could reach and back. Sometimes he held on to Cho’s butt and ground up into him, sometimes he didn’t.  He felt Cho getting harder against his own erection.  _So warm and cozy. Cozy?_ Jane chuckled at his own thoughts. Cho smiled a small smile just because Jane had laughed.  Cho started kissing down Jane’s chest, right down his sternum to the soft belly underneath.  He ran into Jane’s cock with his chin, suckled on the tip.  He bobbed his head a couple times, but that wasn’t really his destination. 

He licked his way down even further, gently pushing Jane’s knees to his chest.  He bit and nibbled up and down Jane’s thighs, one then the other, while Jane squirmed. The last time he kissed his way down Jane’s thigh he didn’t stop until he was mouthing at Jane’s opening.  He stayed there a while, licking all around and looked up to find Jane propped on his elbows watching him intently. He returned the gaze as he put his tongue inside Jane. A flash of sensation zipped through Jane, even Cho felt it.  Cho did that again, deeper and Jane made a sound that rumbled in his chest. Cho’s skin flushed.  Cho replaced his tongue with his finger, gently feeling inside. He switched back and forth from tongue to finger and back, going further each time. The next time it was two fingers, the next he crooked them and found that spot inside.  That made Jane cry out.  His head dropped back to hang from his shoulders.

Jane was lost to what Cho was doing. The heat of Cho’s mouth was everywhere. He was completely in Cho’s hands and he felt good all over, really good, like not-like-this-in-years good.  He let his mind go and when Cho hit that spot again, he fell off his elbows and would have sworn he was floating.  Cho kept his fingers inside and mouthed his way back up Jane’s body to reach for the drawer in the bedside table.  Jane’s eyes fluttered open, pure pleasure on his face.

Cho was shaking. His muscles were turning to Jell-O on him. He juggled putting on the condom one handed while kissing Jane. He was breathing heavily through his nose so he wouldn’t have to lose his connection. He carefully took his fingers away and sank himself into Jane. Doing this with him was like no other, he wasn’t pushing in as much as he felt like he was being pulled in. They were both breathing deeply now, sucking in air from the sides of their mouths. Jane crossed his ankles and rolled his hips. Cho reached for his hands, interlacing their fingers on the pillow on either side of Jane’s head, and fucked Jane for all he was worth. 

Jane couldn’t form his mouth to kiss anymore. Cho wasn’t in much better shape. Their sounds had devolved to grunts. They were breathing the same air until Cho hit that spot one last time. Jane’s whole body flexed and he came with a cry. Jane went limp, his fingers losing their grip, even as his hips were still thrusting. Cho felt the warmth between their bellies and that was all kind of hot, he ground down as deep as he could and fell into the abyss. That cry could have been someone else, but Cho couldn’t be sure it wasn’t him. His body melted and he held onto Jane, scooping him up close, breathing next to his ear, holding his head, never wanting to let go. Jane instinctively clung to him as they both tried to regain their breath, until they couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Patrick? You okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah, I need a minute,” he was still panting and his heart was still pounding, even a tear running down his cheek.  Cho rolled over, instantly freezing them. Jane flailed his arms to find the blanket, Cho helped him cover up.  They were quiet. 

“I didn’t know it could be like that,” Jane whispered in the dark.

“Me, neither,” Cho whispered back.

Jane found Cho’s mouth again. He was feeling the loss of being half of a whole.

“I have to get up, Cho, I’ll be right back,” and he went to the bathroom to clean up.  When he got back, Cho had gone to the guest bedroom and he called to Jane.

“Let’s sleep here, I’ll deal with the other bed tomorrow,” he said, crawling into bed.  Jane joined him. He found Cho’s hand.  The fell asleep facing each other, holding hands.

 

They went back to work.  People didn’t stop killing other people just because Jane and Cho settled their differences.  Now they were definitely standing too close, definitely too many long stares. Cho voluntarily brought Jane some tea in his favorite cup and that raised eyebrows.   Rigsby even cornered Cho and asked him what was up. 

“Nothing, why?” Cho answered.

“Bringing Jane tea?”

“What, I can’t be nice?”

Rigsby rolled his eyes and let the matter drop.

Lisbon was the one to question Jane.

“We had a disagreement.  We settled it,” was all Jane would say.  Lisbon gave him a look. “What?  We’re playing nicely again, isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked.

Lisbon shook her head in exasperation, “Okay, yeah it’s what I wanted.  There’s a body, we’re up.”

 

This time, someone dressed as a clown murdered a genius in cold blood and cut off his finger.  Jane and Cho didn’t have a lot of time together at work, but they met every night they could.  On those nights, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.  They wore each other out.  Jane hadn’t slept this well in years, several hours of sleep in a row is something he thought he’d never have again.  Even if he did have a nightmare, Cho would be there to calm him, sometimes without even waking him at all.  Cho loved having someone who both could take care of himself and still needed to be protected. 

Jane could have kicked himself.  It was always the wife.  Even after everything, he wasn’t jaded enough to think that she would have killed him so mercilessly.  She had so many other options.  She looked so sad and confused, not guilty at all.  If she had thought to ransack her kitchen, Jane might not have caught on.  At least he got some time at a beautiful resort and met an intriguing psychotic.  Oh, and a decent game of chess.

 

Then one day, Kristina Frye showed up at a crime scene.  Jane’s stomach dropped when he saw her.  She was fake and he knew it.  She was even more arrogant than he was, at least he thought so.  The first time they met, she ended the contact by talking about his family as if she knew anything.  Didn’t matter how mad he was at her, it still made him cry.  Fuck her. 

Jane nearly fainted when Hightower suggested they go on a date.  But in thinking about it, he changed his mind.  Maybe a date was a good idea.  He didn’t think it’d ever go anywhere, but he did think that he could get her to admit she was a fraud if they were alone.  He thought, maybe if she did, they could at least be friends.

The date was miserable.  Any hope he had of getting her to acknowledge she was putting on an act went out the window when she did a cold reading of the waiter.  Of course, the waiter was impressed, but Jane could have told him everything she did.  She was showing off, rubbing it in his face. Later, her laugh was driving him up a wall, he had to get out.  He made to the bathroom and averted his panic.  What the hell had he been thinking?  In that moment, he missed his wife more that he had in ages.  He silently cursed Kristina for the umpteenth time that night, took a deep breath and walked back to the table, determined to end the evening as soon as possible.

Jane couldn’t have been happier when he got the call to come back to the CBI.  As much as he hated Red John, this once he couldn’t have had better timing.  To his chagrin, Kristina wanted to tag along. Why Patrick was surprised at that was a testament to how badly he just wanted to get away from her.  He felt like a kid telling his mom when he went to Hightower to get rid of Kristina for him, but he didn’t care.  He told himself that he was protecting her, because it was the truth, he was trying to keep her safe.  He felt deep down in his bones that mixing Red John and Kristina would be a very bad idea. 

Turned out though, that he should have kept her close, like that saying about your enemies.  She stupidly, and he couldn’t emphasize just how stupidly, went on TV and did exactly what Jane had done to set him on his current path.  She wouldn’t listen, stubbornly sticking to her story.  He got so angry, he left.  He knew, _he knew,_ Red John would never let her get away with what she had said.  He knew Red John would get to her with a certainty he always projected but never really had.  If having premonitions like that is what made people think he was psychic, so be it.

It was late, but he headed over to Cho’s anyway.  He was upset.  Cho was up, he smiled broadly when he saw it was Jane. Jane enveloped Cho.

“It is so good to see you,” he said, like he hadn’t seen him in years, “you are a sight for sore eyes.”

“You’ve been talking to Kristina, haven’t you?” Cho asked, still hugging Jane.

“I can’t help her, she won’t listen.”

“Can’t believe you went out with her,” Cho said.

“We all make mistakes, Cho,” Jane said, “Wasn’t like it was romantic or anything.  I thought she’d give up the charade, thought we could be friends.”

“I’m sure you did everything you could,” Cho said. 

Jane kissed Cho, “What would I do without you?”

“Wither away,” Cho said as he grinned.

“Can we make love?” Jane whispered.

“You have to ask?”

“I don’t want to wear out my welcome.”  
“Never.”

They were in bed, and Jane wasn’t getting what he needed, he couldn’t settle, couldn’t get there.  Cho was on top and he propped himself up on his hands.  “What do you want, Jane?” he whispered.  Jane picked up Cho’s hand and put it on his own throat and started to pick up Cho’s other hand.  Cho stopped him. “No, Jane I can’t do that.”

“I won’t let you go too far, I promise,” Jane whispered back.

Cho shook his head.  He wrapped his hands around Jane’s neck, but he didn’t tighten them at all, thinking that might be enough.  He leaned down and kissed Jane, started making love to him again.  Jane put his hands over Cho’s and pushed.

“Jane, don’t ask me to do that,” Cho couldn’t. He knew what Jane wanted but he couldn’t.

“It’s okay, Cho, I won’t,” Jane said, “Sssh, it’s okay,” he said when Cho looked upset.  Jane took Cho’s hands from around his neck. “C’mere,” he said and pulled Cho in for a kiss.  “I’m sorry, we won’t, I’ll never ask you again.”

“Have you ever done that before?” Cho wanted to know. 

“I was just a kid, well, teenager, you know that game kids play, it affected me differently than the other kids,” Jane explained.  “I’ve done it off and on since then.”

Cho studied Jane while thinking. _Has Jane always had a death wish?_ “Can you promise me something?” Cho asked.

“Anything.”

“Promise you’ll never let someone choke you like that.   Not me, not with anyone, and never alone,” Cho said.

Jane looked into Cho’s eyes, he seemed to be hesitating.

“Jane, people die doing that,” Cho said with growing exasperation.  “At least never alone?” _Why is he so self-destructive, why doesn’t he care?_

“No, Cho, I won’t ever do it.  I won’t. Not with anyone. Not alone,” Jane promised firmly.  It was an easy promise to make.  That wasn’t the reason for the hesitation.  “Do you think I’m sleeping with other people? Are you?” He sounded hurt.

“No, I don’t want to sleep with anyone else.  You went out with Kristina.”

“Stop.  I told you about her.  I haven’t been sleeping with anyone else.”

“Just me, huh?” Cho started to smile again.

“Just you,” Jane said quietly as the implications of what they had said sunk in.

They kissed then like they’d never stop.  Hot, all-encompassing kisses, teeth and tongues and shivers.  It may not have been what Jane wanted, but it was what he needed.  “Kimball” he breathed out.

“I know”


End file.
